In Game of QB Roulette, Huskies Pull the Trigger on Comeback Win

The UW upends Michigan 27-17 in highly competitive battle before sellout crowd.

Huskies linebackers Khmori House (28) and Alphonzo Tuputala (11) tackle Michigan Wolverines running back Kalel Mullings in the first quarter. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

In a game of quarterback chess, the Washington football team made all the clever moves early on, backing Michigan into a Montlake corner.

None was more bold and well-played than Jedd Fisch's double quarterback throw in the second quarter -- that went from Will Rogers to Demond Williams and back across the field to running back Cam Davis -- and resulted in a 37-yard gain that set the unranked Huskies up for a 14-0 lead.

Who said Fisch couldn't call plays?

However, the visiting and 10th-ranked Wolverines had some quarterback moves of their own on a day that began in brilliant sunshine at Husky Stadium before a full house and an NBC-TV national broadcast.

After the aforementioned UW chicanery, Michigan simply swapped out its No. 1 guy, a bold call just the same -- because it was the second time the Maize and Blue had gone to such drastic lengths this season, with different people each time.

Jack Tuttle, who at Indiana once backed up Michael Penix Jr. -- with the lefty in attendance to see all of this crazy signal-caller stuff transpire -- took over for a struggling Alex Orji, managed to put the Wolverines up by 3 through three quarters but couldn't prevent the Huskies from taking a 27-17 victory in front of a crowd of 72,132, the largest in eight years.

The UW (4-2 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) pushed across the winning points on Jonah Coleman's 1-yard leap into the end zone with 6:22 left to play.

That gave the Huskies their 18th consecutive home victory, stopped Michigan's conference win streak at 24 and brought a measure of regular-season payback for losing the CFP championship game to Michigan (4-2, 2-1) nine months earlier. The UW closed the all-time series record to 9-6 in favor of the Wolverines.

"I definitely took this week very personal," said edge rusher Voi Tunuufi, one of a handful of Huskies who played in the title game and provided a game-changing turnover this time.

Rogers was his usual accurate self, completing 21 of 31 passes for 271 yards and 2 scores, though he threw his first interception in 269 passes. Coleman came up with 80 yards rushing on 18 carries and his game-winning points. Tight end Keleki Latu kept drives moving for the Huskies by leading them in receiving with 7 catches for 63 yards.

Everything worked well for the home team in giving their coach his first win of great magnitude at the UW.

"Our fans were in full force," said Fisch, who saw a good portion of them storm the field afterward. "What an awesome place. It was a dream of mine to be able to play in an environment like this."

Early on, the unapologetic Fisch seemed to dare anyone to criticize him on his play-calling. He had stuff saved up.

On the first play of the game, he had Rogers let fly with a 36-yard pass completion that hit Denzel Boston in stride and got the Huskies moving down the field. Unfortunately, one element not readily fixed at that point was Grady Gross' kicking slump. He missed a 32-yarder to muffle that opening drive.

On the second drive, however, the UW marched 83 yards in 13 plays for Rogers' 3-yard touchdown throw to Boston and a 7-0 lead at the 2:38 mark of the opening quarter. It was Boston's 8th scoring catch of the season, already ranking the sophomore 12th in the Husky record book. He finished with 5 catches for 80 yards and this TD.

Husky receiver Denzel Boston (12) catches a touchdown pass while leaving a Michigan defender prone on the ground. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Into the second quarter these teams went and things really got fun -- at least for the Huskies. When no one was looking, Fisch sent Williams on to the field, as he has done often in the middle of drives. but he didn't pull Rogers out of the game.

Rogers took the snap, turned to his right and threw one at a backward angle, making it a lateral, to Williams, who lined up along the Michigan sideline. The freshman threw the ball all the way back across the field to the other sideline, where Davis was open, made the catch and zipped 37 yards to the Michigan 16.

"We felt it was the right week to, I guess, to dust it off you would say, " Fisch said. "You've got to call it when you think you're going to get the look you're looking for. Everybody has to execute the play."

The Wolverines were so flustered by this, they gave up Rogers' 16-yard TD pass to wide receiver Giles Jackson -- himself a former Michigan man -- on the very next play and trailed 14-0 at 9:38 of the second quarter.

"Demond and Will are great quarterbacks," Jackson said. "They both can play. Every time they get in we expect the same results. Michigan had a lot of quarterbacks going in, but they're still a great team. They still know how to run the ball."

This Big Ten bully had seen enough at this point. It wasn't bullying anyone. Following three unsuccessful drives and staring at that two-touchdown deficit, the call was made to send in Tuttle, a seventh-year senior who hadn't played this season because of an elbow injury. He replaced Orji, a junior and a highly limited passer who went 3 starts and out. Orji earlier had replaced senior Davis Warren, who likewise went 3-and-out as a Michigan starter.

It appears Tom Brady was busy.

The move to Tuttle was enough to jumpstart the Wolverines, who cut the lead to 14-10 by halftime, using an old Husky nemesis Donovan Edwards to get the comeback in motion. This was the same guy who broke 46- and 41-yard TD runs against the UW in the CFP national championship game in Houston. This time, Edwards went 39 yards over the right side to the end zone. There was 5:25 left in the half.

Huskies running back Jonah Coleman runs through a hole against the Michigan defense. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

After a Husky 3-and-out, the Wolverines moved back up the field for a 45-yard field goal by Dominic Zvada to pull them within 14-10 with 1:49 remaining until intermission.

Gross, while making a couple of PAT kicks, remained snake-bit on field goals. On the final play of the half, he had a 29-yarder blocked.

With new blood behind center, the Wolverines took the second-half kickoff and methodically moved 75 yards in 12 plays for Tuttle's 8-yard TD pass to tight end Colston Loveland and Michigan's first lead, and only one of the game, at 17-14.

Fisch went back to his dual quarterback playbook, only using them separately to move the Huskies in range for Gross' 29-yard field goal and a 17-17 tie early in the fourth quarter. Gross seemed renewed. Behind center, Williams ran four times and Rogers threw it three times. The drive stalled at the 11 when Rogers got sacked. Thirteen and a half minutes were left to play.

It would be all Huskies going forward.

With 8:02 left in the game, Tunuufi hit Tuttle and stripped the ball from him in the tie game, putting the Huskies on the Michigan 32. Coleman immediately broke a 27-yard run to get to the 5, and ultimately needed to score twice from the 1 to put his team ahead for good with 6:31 on the clock. He appeared to reach the end zone the first time, but a replay determined his knee was down before crossing the goal line. He left no doubt by leaping over the middle of the line for the go-ahead score on the next attempt and made it 24-17.

On the next series, Husky safety Kam Fabiculanan stole a pass from Tuttle at the Michigan 31 -- No. 13 intercepting No. 13 -- effectively ending this game and maybe prompting the Wolverines coaching staff to readdress its quarterback situation once more.

Putting an exclamation mark on everything with 1:06 left to play, Gross kicked one from 32 yards out and gave his team a 10-point cushion and and maybe pulled him out of his funk once and for all. The Huskies were alternating their QBs to the end.

With that, the students spilled onto the field, all of those well-utilized quarterbacks headed to their respective locker rooms and all was right in Montlake.

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